June 2009 MMA News Archive - Page 4

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Holli Griggs filed a lawsuit against Rampage in Orange County, California -- claiming he repeatedly rammed into her car "so he could escape and flee the scene (hit and run)." Griggs says "the impact of her abdomen with the steering wheel caused her amniotic fluid membranes (bag of waters) to rupture, ultimately resulting in the stillbirth of her baby."

Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) today confirmed that 12 of the 20 competitors who were tested for illegal/banned substances after competing at The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 9 Finale have all passed with flying colors.
Diego Sanchez, Clay Guida, James Wilks, DaMarques Johnson, Chris Lytle, Ross Pearson, Andre Winner, Joe Stevenson, Melvin Guillard, Brad Blackburn, Tomasz Drwal and Nick Osipczak were all screened for performance enhancers such as steroids and drugs of abuse like cocaine and marijuana, among others.

UFC welterweight champion Georges St Pierre and No. 1 contender Thiago Alves, who will meet at UFC 100, aren't just the top two welterweights in the UFC. They might also be the two biggest. On a call Thursday to promote their upcoming fight, St. Pierre and Alves said they both weigh more than 190 pounds right now, just over two weeks out from a UFC 100 weigh-in for which they'll have to tip the scales at 170.

UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and UFC middleweight title-holder Anderson Silva are among the four nominees for the "Best Fighter" category for the 2009 ESPY Awards.
An ESPN spokesperson today alerted MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) of the list of nominees.
Silva and Machida are up against boxers Shane Mosley and Manny Pacquiao in the "Best Fighter" category, which the ESPY Awards added in 2007.

It appears that welterweight Frank Lester has run out of chances to land a spot on the roster of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Sources informed FiveOuncesOfPain.com late Wednesday night that the Team Quest product received his formal release from the UFC shortly after losing via first round submission to Nick Osipczak during this past Saturday’s live finale for the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter.

Lee Murray's freedom was short-lived. The ex-UFC fighter who is one of the most wanted men in the UK for allegedly masterminding a $92 million cash depot heist in Tonbridge, has been re-arrested in Morocco following the hearing that refused his extradition.
"Lee was indeed rearrested right away, because the British Authorities did put [in] a formal request to the Moroccan Authorities to have him tried in Morocco for the alleged robbery," his attorney Abdellah Benlamhidi told FanHouse via email.

Shinya Aoki is one of the best lightweights in mixed martial arts, and he's the most exciting submission artist in the sport. And Aoki, who fights in the Japanese Dream promotion, is also well known for the colorful spandex pants he wears in the ring. But don't dare ask Aoki whether those pants help him apply those exciting submissions.

A lightweight bout between Hermes Franca (19-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC) and Tyson Griffin (13-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) will take place in September at UFC 103.
Sources close to the fighters told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that bout agreements have not been signed but both competitors have verbally agreed to the fight.
The Sept. 19 fight will take place on the main card of the event, which airs live on pay-per-view from the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

According to Yahoo! Japan, Satoshi Ishii's debut will likely be pushed back to Sengoku XI on November 7th instead of the rumored debut date of August 2nd. Sengoku's public relations' department cited that they didn't want to push Ishii, and they'd like to be very careful with the 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist Judo champion. This has caused a bit of a stir among hardcore fans as to what the holdup may actually be from Ishii, and there have been some strange things going on with Ishii as of late.

Something tells me that deep down Chuck Liddell wants that one last fight. Liddell is the most popular fighter on the planet and a proud former champion to boot, there’s no way a fighter with his mentality is going to walk away on a sour note like his most recent TKO loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. I just don’t see that sitting very well with Chuck during his many years of life that will follow his retirement from the sport.

On July 10, just one day prior to the most symbolic event in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, two men will be transformed into legends of the octagon as they are honored by being inducted into the organization’s illustrious Hall of Fame.
In order for us to properly judge the candidates for the position we should assess the standard by taking a look at the accomplishments of the Hall of Fame inductee past.

In life, a man can wear many hats. Some are forced upon us and some we freely choose. For Tom Atencio, the latter is the case when it comes to fighting.
Atencio is well recognized for his role as both Vice President and fight promoter for Affliction. But beyond the limelight those roles derive, his favorite job may have become doing what he has come to promote.
Back in 2005, Tom Atencio made his mixed martial arts debut against David Martinez at Total Combat 7 in Tijuana, Mexico. Four and a half years later, Atencio will return to the ring, this time skirmishing stateside against the debuting Randy Hedderick on the under card of ‘Ultimate Chaos’ this Saturday, June 27 in Biloxi, Mississippi.

“Jaime Varner is what’s next but apparently he hurt his hand again. I don’t know if he is going to be ready or if they are thinking about an interim title. Right now it is kind of up in the air. The fight was supposed to be in September; now I don’t know what’s going to happen. I know that I am fighting in September though. If it is against Varner cool. If it’s for an interim title, that’s cool too..."

One of the most talked about topics in mixed martial arts over the past 24 hours has been the interview with Brock Lesnar posted on GroundNPound.org that quoted the current UFC heavyweight champion as saying he was able to out-punch Shane Carwin in a side-by-side power test taken the day before UFC 96.

“I think Machida is getting a lot of hype, and I know he has lots of big wins over a lot of big fighters, and a lot of experience over me. I don’t think he’s Christ; I think he’s very beatable. They’re looking at him and his karate like he’s Bruce Lee. He’s not Bruce Lee. He’s very beatable. I honestly believe that a great Muay Thai champion will beat a great karate fighter any day; it’s been proven on lots of occasions. If Machida has (the belt) by the time I get to that level, I’ll be ready for him..."

Brian Bowles is widely regarded as the No. 2 bantamweight in mixed martial arts, but in the bantamweight division, there's a wide gulf between the No. 1 fighter, World Extreme Cagefighting champion Miguel Torres, and everyone else.

The last time MMA fans saw K.J. Noons he was blasting his way through his firs title defense as the EliteXC lightweight champion, but lately the native Hawaiian has gone back to his first love, which is the sport of boxing. While no deal has been made yet, Noons says MMA fans shouldn't forget about him, because he'll be back, and it will be before the end of 2009.

First bursting on to the mainstream MMA scene due to his stint on “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series, former King of the Cage champion Joe Stevenson quickly made a name for himself in his new home with the UFC. Winning the second season's welterweight title against Luke Cummo in what Dana White described as "...in my opinion, ladies and gentlemen, that was Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin, only on the ground,” a remark that speaks volumes of Stevenson’s character and ability.